Soul Returns to Hong Kong: From Tailor Shop to Richest Woman

On Monday morning, the bell rang at 8:00 a.m. as usual.

The morning self-study session in Class 1-1 was very quiet. Zhou Yawen stood next to the podium, holding the attendance book, and called on ten students to recite English words. Those who got more than three wrong had to stay after lunch break to recite them again.

No one in the class dared to utter a sound.

Lin Ying sat in the middle of the third row, looking down as she flipped through her English textbook. She had spent the weekend reading the second half of the first volume of "Night Taboo." The cases were well-written, and the characters were well-developed. If it weren't for the ambiguous cover and title, the story's framework alone would be enough to support a TV series of more than twenty episodes.

The second period was English class. Zhou Yawen's lectures were as fast-paced as ever. She wrote key sentence patterns on the blackboard while calling on students to answer questions. Anyone who was distracted was slapped with a piece of chalk.

When the bell rang, the whole class breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Yawen closed her lesson plan and said to Lin Ying below the podium, "Lin Ying, come out with me for a moment."

Tang Xueqi, standing next to Lin Ying, glanced at her and whispered, "Did you do too well on the test again? Is Zhou Bapi going to give you extra tutoring again?"

"No." Lin Ying put the pen into her pencil case, stood up, and walked out.

Zhou Yawen didn't take her to the teachers' office. Instead, she went around to the second-floor corridor and stopped at a secluded corner on the stairwell. Few students usually passed by here, and the playground could be seen from the window.

Zhou Yawen glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then whispered to Lin Ying, "Lin Ying, Teacher Zhou has a personal question she'd like to ask you."

Lin Ying nodded: "Please ask, teacher."

Zhou Yawen cleared her throat, asking casually, "How did you sell the rights to your movies?"

Lin Ying looked at her but didn't reply.

Zhou Yawen explained, "I'm not asking about your family situation, it's just... I have a friend who recently wrote something, and someone is trying to buy the copyright from her. She's not very familiar with the industry rules, so she asked me to inquire about it."

Lin Ying didn't expose her trick of making up friends out of thin air. After thinking for a moment, she said, "The copyright of my scripts is not sold out in one go. Usually, the authorship rights are locked in, and then I get a share of the net profit."

Zhou Yawen asked in confusion, "Profit sharing?"

"Hmm." Lin Ying told her teacher about her collaboration habits: "It depends on the size of the project. For ordinary collaborations, it's one-tenth of the total profit; if the proposal is particularly good, or if someone asks me to write it, then I can negotiate up to 20% of the total profit."

Zhou Yawen was silent for a few seconds, then pressed on, "So, how much money did you make from your first film, 'Death in the Light'?"

Lin Ying was worried that Zhou Yawen's heart wouldn't be able to take it if she said it, so she didn't answer.

Zhou Yawen, instead, adopted a more assertive stance, saying, "Tell the teacher quietly, and I promise I won't tell anyone. I'll treat you to dinner after school!"

Lin Ying looked at the homeroom teacher in front of her, who usually commanded respect on the podium, and announced a number: "More than 1.7 million."

Zhou Yawen's face immediately changed: "Damn it!"

Lin Ying was stunned when she heard the swear word.

Zhou Yawen realized she had used foul language in front of her students after she finished speaking and immediately shut up; but she couldn't care less about maintaining the dignity of a first-year homeroom teacher now.

She held onto the stair railing for a long time before realizing, "I've been scammed."

The more Zhou Yawen thought about it, the more depressed she felt. More than 1.7 million... one-tenth... twenty percent... and then she thought about her three books! She only signed a contract for 130,000.

After a while, Zhou Yawen slowly came to her senses, her voice noticeably lower: "Wait for me after school today, I'll treat you to dinner."

After saying that, she turned and left. Her back view showed less of a murderous aura than usual, but more of a heartbroken look.

At 3:30 p.m., as soon as the school bell rang, the students began to pack their schoolbags.

Zhou Yawen stood listlessly at the door. When she saw Lin Ying come out, she waved and said, "Let's go."

Lin Ying, carrying her schoolbag, followed her: "Teacher, why don't we go to my house? I happen to have something to discuss with you. There are too many people and distractions at the tea restaurants outside, it's not convenient to talk."

Upon hearing the words "inconvenient," Zhou Yawen thought for a moment and said, "That's fine too."

The two took a bus from Fortress Hill to Taikoo Shing. Throughout the journey, Zhou Yawen barely spoke, her eyes fixed on the scenery outside the window. Lin Ying knew she was doing the math. Selling the TV adaptation rights for 130,000 yuan upfront meant that if the show became a hit, the profits from subsequent reruns and re-runs would have nothing to do with the original author. The more she calculated this, the more frustrated she became.

After entering the Taikoo City Yinghutai residential complex, Lin Ying took out her key to open the door after waiting for the elevator to go up to the fifteenth floor.

As soon as the door is pushed open, you are greeted by a bright and spacious room with leather sofas, a solid wood coffee table, a color television, and a view of the distant street scene from the window. The floor tiles are polished to a shine.

Zhou Yawen stood at the door, silent for several seconds, then asked, "You... live here?"

Lin Ying took slippers out of the shoe cabinet and handed them over: "Okay, teacher, come in. Mommy's not home today."

Zhou Yawen changed her shoes, walked into the living room, and glanced at the furnishings. Her eyes filled with envy, she asked, "This house is so spacious, it must be very expensive?"

"It cost around one million when I bought it." Lin Ying walked to the coffee table to pour water.

Zhou Yawen nodded: "In Taikoo City, this price is indeed reasonable."

Lin Ying handed over the water glass and added, "This was bought with my share of the profits from my first movie, paid in full."

Zhou Yawen raised her hand to cover her chest, her face even more pale than it had been at the stairwell that morning: "The first one... you bought Taikoo City?"

"Yes." Lin Ying nodded.

Zhou Yawen took the water glass and took a big gulp: "Lin Ying, stop talking. Teacher has already had enough to worry about today."

Lin Ying sat down on the single sofa and put down her schoolbag: "Teacher, actually you didn't lose money entirely. 130,000 is not a small amount in the writing industry."

Zhou Yawen looked at her in surprise: "How did you know I sold it for 130,000? You even know that?"

Lin Ying didn't say anything, but stood up and went into the bedroom. After a while, she came out with three thick physical books, a stack of printing paper and handwritten manuscripts, and gently placed them on the coffee table.

Zhou Yawen was stunned when she saw the dark red book cover.

The first page of the stack of handwritten manuscripts next to it clearly reads: "Episode Outline and Shot Adaptation Suggestions for 'Night Taboo'".

"You..." Zhou Yawen was momentarily at a loss for words.

Lin Ying sat back down and said, "The boss who bought your copyright is Su Zhihao, who is also known as Uncle Su, who is working with me on the film. He brought the book to me last weekend and asked me to help him organize his opinions on the adaptation and the storyboard."

Zhou Yawen: "..." The shock she received today was more than she had in the past thirty years combined.

Lin Ying thoughtfully said, "He didn't tell me your real name directly; he only said that the author is a teacher at Boya Academy and absolutely refuses to show his face."

"That bastard Su Zhihao," Zhou Yawen cursed through gritted teeth.

Lin Ying pretended not to hear: "Teacher, my second uncle is a businessman. When businessmen buy new properties, they always need to find someone knowledgeable to check things out. He didn't expose your identity to outsiders, but only to me."

Zhou Yawen rubbed her temples and sighed, "So, you've read it? And you know about those...those things written in it?"

"I've read more than half of it." Lin Ying's assessment was quite apt: "The case is exceptionally well-written; it seems entirely adaptable, and quite easily so, but it can't be filmed exactly as described in the original book."

When the topic of her writing being revised came up, Zhou Yawen forgot her embarrassment: "Where can't I take pictures?"

Lin Ying flipped to the corner of the first volume and pointed to a passage: "First, the standards for male-female relationships cannot be copied directly. It's fine for novel readers to read it alone at home, but television viewers are watching as a family in the living room. It's written too bluntly here."

Zhou Yawen frowned: "If it's completely deleted, the female lead's motive for killing later won't hold water."

"No need to delete it, just change it to a subplot." Lin Ying explained clearly, "Change it to leave traces through props, eye contact, and dialogue in the scene. For example, the half of the theater ticket for the deceased in the first chapter. In the original book, the female protagonist directly sees the diary. Using a long shot to pull the tension is more effective than writing it out directly."

Zhou Yawen did not refute, she could tell that Lin Ying truly understood the art of acting.

Lin Ying continued flipping through the storyboard outline she had written: "Secondly, the most valuable aspect of this story is the interweaving of old and new cases. I've helped Uncle Er outline the first ten episodes. Episodes three to five will reveal a layer of truth, and the ending must leave a cliffhanger. I need you, as the original author, to personally oversee this part."

Zhou Yawen picked up the stack of manuscript papers, which not only contained adaptation suggestions but also a clear breakdown of character relationships and the location of the suspenseful moments at the end of each episode.

"You organized all of this?" Zhou Yawen felt it was surreal; Lin Ying was only in the first year of junior high school!

"It's the initial structure," Lin Ying said. "Teacher, you are the original author; the soul of the characters is in your hands."

Zhou Yawen chuckled and put down the manuscript: "What use is the script to me? It's sold for 130,000. Su Zhihao is the boss now. Do you think he'll let me touch it?"

"That depends on how you talk to him," Lin Ying said, looking at her. "That's the real reason I brought you here today."

Zhou Yawen looked at Lin Ying with a puzzled expression.

"Thirteen thousand is a bit of a loss," Lin Ying analyzed to Teacher Zhou, "but the contract is fixed, but people are flexible. Uncle Su hasn't completely taken advantage of the subsequent screenwriting consulting fees, credit rights, and priority pricing rights for sequels if the TV series becomes a hit."